Response to Cedarville University Chapel 08/22/2017

It's quite a nice day here at Cedarville University. There was a bit of overcast and a sprinkling of rain as I walked to the chapel service today, but so far, it has turned out to be a rather good day. This was the first Chapel service I have been able to go to this year, and I did not leave disappointed. I was inspired to start writing about the chapel services that I have, and will attend, as well as my personal thoughts about the subjects addressed.

The speaker today was Mark Vroegop, and he was speaking on the subject of defeating sin. To start, we turned to Colossians 3:5-7 which states: "5. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6. Because these the wrath of God is coming.  7. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth." In this, Vroegop states that the scripture commands us, the followers of Jesus, to put to death sinful inclinations. How is one to put to death an idea, something that is not of a physical nature? It is a mindset. It is a “decisive act that creates an attitude. It creates a lens to view sin. If we look at Romans 6:11, it says: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Again, we are reminded that this is an action of which we must change our mindset about sin, and thus, not allow sin to reign our mortal bodies.

Temptation though, is not something that goes away. Even if you are a Christian, it doesn’t matter how holy you are, how much time you spend in the word, or how much you pray, or how often you go to chapel or church, the temptation of sin is still there, and will always be there. It is part of us once we enter this world, and will be part of us when we leave it. It is a perpetual curse that plagues everyone, yet, do not loose heart, for there is a way to overcome. When we look at the phrase “put to death,” let us think of atrophy. For we can put to death sin by not committing sin, yet we must battle temptation, so the question is, how does one battle a part of themselves.

As a nursing student, I have learned a lot about the human body, but something that fascinates me is the effect of atrophy. If someone breaks their arm, it is put in a cast, and that arm is not used for several weeks. Once the cast is removed, you can see that the arm is now smaller and weaker than it was originally. This is due to lack of use in that arm. Thus, the same principle applies to sin. As we study the word, we grow in the spirit and our faith, and as we ignore sin, it becomes weaker. Unfortunately, it goes both ways. To dwell in sin, and ignore growing our “spiritual muscles,” we are making it harder for us when temptation strikes. If we are trying to strengthen our “spiritual muscles,” yet continue in sin, we are gaining nothing, and have become a lukewarm Christian.

(This principle can be applied to many different things, the love in a relationship, the determination within studying, growing in a friendship, but these are topics for another time.)

2 Timothy 2:22 reminds us to pursue righteousness, while Proverbs 7 reminds us to stay away from situations that would test us in sexual immorality. In all things though, we do need the encouragement of our brothers and sisters in Christ. If someone has a struggle with temptation and they are taking certain measures to overcome that, do not discourage them. Whether it be taking a break from snapchat, or Facebook, or not watching that newest HBO show that everyone is raving about, encourage them to pursue holiness and lift them up along their way. Personally, I watch several shows that don’t cause me temptation that I know might cause others to stumble. I had a friend come up and tell me that he couldn’t watch certain shows that I watched because he knew that it would cause him to stumble. In this, I stated my understanding and encouraged him to continue the course and stay away from things that would cause him to stumble.

In this light, I must address another fact though, which is when Christians confronts a brother or sister because of an item that causes him to stumble, and becomes derogatory to another due to his personal conviction. Considering this, I may spend another post delving into it (possibly one of my Journal of the Four Minds posts), but without going into a long and drawn out discussion on it, I believe that, unless this particular thing is causing that brother or sister to stumble, and we see that, then it would be an opportunity to come and support that brother or sister, and bring up, in a loving and caring manner, how one thing may be connected to another. We should not approach a brother in need with a confrontational and derogatory manner, but rather one of love. We need to make sure that our personal convictions are not interfering with our views, and then, we can approach our brother and sister.

In conclusion, we are to make sure that we are strengthening our spiritual muscles, while allowing the muscles we have of sin and temptation to atrophy. In doing this, we will find that later on the temptation that used to plague us now seems distant, and does not hold the power that it once did.